


Regeneration

by felineranger



Category: Red Dwarf
Genre: M/M, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-01-17
Updated: 2006-01-17
Packaged: 2017-10-08 03:00:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 17
Words: 13,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/72001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/felineranger/pseuds/felineranger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Set between Series 5 and 6.  Rimmer and Lister are taken prisoner by a Regenerant with a terrible purpose in mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

           Arnold Rimmer lay on the filthy floor of his cell and stared at the ceiling.  A faint red glow illuminated one side of his face; emanating from the holo-bars that criss-crossed the doorway of the dungeon and kept him trapped in here.  Whether in hard or soft-light form, he could not pass through them.

            A series of marks along the wall tallied the days he had spent in here.  It had been just over ten weeks now.  Ten weeks since Blue Midget had been snared from its flight path back to Red Dwarf by the suction beam of a massive ship; and he and Lister had been taken prisoner. 

            Rimmer had nagged Lister into going star-spotting with him that day, and it had been just the two of them onboard when the beam hit – paralysing all their systems and cutting off any way of contacting Cat and Kryten for aid.  The beam had dragged them down into the larger ship’s docking bay, where they had been boarded by their captor. 

 

            “Well, what have we here?”  Lister and Rimmer both backed away as the heavily-muscled man came through the airlock with a rad-pistol pointed right at them.  “It’s been a very long time since I’ve had visitors.”  He grinned at them and they both swallowed hard.  Sane people didn’t smile like that. 

“Listen, man, we were just out for a spin,” Lister said as amiably as possible, “We didn’t mean to bother anyone.  If you just de-activate your suction beam, we’ll be out of your hair before you know it.”  He smiled hopefully, but to no avail.

“No,” the man said thoughtfully, “No, I don’t think I’ll be doing that.  Where would be the fun?  I’d much rather keep you.  And then we can have a little play together.  You know, some of my toys haven’t been used in years and years.  They might be a little rusty...” His eyes lit up at the thought, and Lister saw Rimmer go white next to him.  For once, he couldn’t blame him.  This did not look good at all.

            The man gestured with the pistol that they were to follow him and then turned to open the airlock.  Lister, realising this might be their only chance, dived at him while his back was turned and tried to wrestle him to the floor.  He was rather shocked when the man, with apparently no effort at all, grabbed him by the throat and hurled him into the wall with numbing force.

            Rimmer froze, his heart in his throat, before he was able to croak out, “Lister...Are you okay?”  Lister pulled himself up weakly, his arms shaking, and looked at the man standing over him.  “He’s not human,” he said, dazed; “No human is that strong.”

“I haven’t been human for a long time,” the man replied grimly.

            Rimmer stared at him dumbly for a moment before he twigged.  “You’re a Regenerant?” 

            Regenerants had once been normal people, but they had replaced certain organs and bodily systems with mechanical equivalents in an attempt to stave off old age and make themselves stronger.  It had, of course, begun as a military operation to create better soldiers, but it hadn’t taken long before the general public had latched onto the idea and the surgery had become widely available.  But inevitably, once they became too many and too strong, the remaining humans had panicked.  The Regenerants had been rounded up and shot deep into outer space where they couldn’t challenge the control of the human race.

            The man spat on the floor with such venom that Lister and Rimmer both jumped slightly, “Do not use the vile word,” he snarled.  “Out of greed and vanity I took the cursed operation and too late I realised what I had done.  Degraded the pure human body that I was born with in return for immortality as an aberration!  Traded in my soul!  Yes, I saw what I’d done soon enough.  And I set out to put it right. I destroyed every last one of the disgraceful creatures on this wretched ship and cleansed the universe of their perversions of humanity!”

            Lister and Rimmer exchanged glances.  So this guy had massacred an entire crew and had then spent a few thousand years knocking around deep space alone.  They were obviously not at home to Mister Emotionally Stable right now. 

            “I tried to get back,” he continued, “I thought perhaps I could be restored.  But eventually I realised that my change was irreversible...and that even if I somehow returned to Earth, the human race would be gone.”

            “I suppose,” Rimmer said hopefully, “That you don’t really have anything left to live for.  Maybe you should just...you know...self-destruct?” 

The Regenerant glared at him, “It has occurred to me many times.  But I do not have the courage.  And I would rather live on forever as I am than go willingly to the hell that waits for me.”

“Ah, right.” Rimmer said, not hiding his disappointment.

            The Regenerant stared at them shrewdly; as if realising something.  “You assumed I was human,” he remarked.

“Well, it’s hard to tell just by looking at you,” Lister said weakly, getting to his feet; “We don’t have x-ray eyes, you know.” 

“But you _assumed_ I was human,” he reiterated.  “Not a Simulant.  Not a GELF.  Human.”  He stared hard at Lister.  “You assumed I was like you.”

            There was a tense silence.  The Regenerant looked at Rimmer out of the corner of his eye, “This one,” he said slowly, “This one was human once.  But not any more.  But you...” He walked slowly towards Lister, who backed away, “You’re pure.  You’re still pure and complete.  The very last one.  And fate has delivered you to me.”

            Lister’s back hit the wall and he had nowhere else left to go.  The Regenerant leaned in close to him.  “So at last comes my reward.”

“What?” Lister squeaked.

“I proved my worth by ridding this universe of the corrupted ones; and now I am given the ultimate gift.  The opportunity to save the true human race forever.  To build it back to its former glory!”

            “But,” Rimmer interrupted desperately, “He’s the only one left!  You can’t re-populate an entire species with just one specimen!  Even if you could do it with two, they’d still have to be a man and a woman, for smeg’s sake!  Face facts, it’s all over!  You might as well just release us and throw yourself into space or something!”

“No,” The Regenerant smiled to himself, “This is a sign. There must be a way...”  He regarded Lister with a dangerous glee in his eyes, “And I will find it......”

 

            He had escorted them from Blue Midget, imprisoned Rimmer in this tiny cell, and then more or less forgotten about him.  Lister had been taken away, but Rimmer had no way of knowing where, or to what fate.

            He had spent weeks alone in his cell, praying every moment of every hour that Cat and Kryten would find them and come to the rescue.  Although he was in no immediate danger himself – he needed no food or water, and the ship’s computer seemed to be sustaining his hologram – the thought of what might be happening to Lister filled him with dread. 

            After weeks of agonising uncertainty, the Regenerant finally came to him.  He de-activated the holo-bars and dragged Rimmer out of the cell.  “Where are we going?” Rimmer asked, panicked, as he was hauled down a corridor.

“The human wishes to see you,” the Regenerant explained grimly; “He has grown weary of my...experiments.  He threatens to end his own life.  Of course, this cannot be allowed.  I have reminded him that such an act on his part would anger me greatly.  And I would have to take that anger out on somebody, namely you.  He wishes for proof that I have not already killed you.”

            He took Rimmer deep into the heart of the ship, until they reached a dark steel-lined room.  A great glass window took up one whole wall, looking out over a sparse, harshly-lit operating-theatre stroke laboratory. 

            Lister was sitting propped-up in a tiny rest bed in one corner, wrapped in a thin surgical gown.  He looked gaunt and frail; and his eyes were sunken and haunted.  His expression as he and Rimmer’s gaze locked through the glass was a mixture of relief, homesickness and...just possibly...defeat.  An awful thought struck Rimmer.  _A part of him was hoping I was dead.  Because then he could have died too.  Now he has to go on living to protect me._

            Fighting against the lump in his throat, Rimmer reached up to touch the glass separating them.  Lister saw and tried to smile, but couldn’t quite manage it.  “Enough,” the Regenerant said briskly, “He has had all the proof he needs.  And we still have a lot of work to do.”


	2. Chapter 2

            Lister lay on the cold steel of the operating table, his wrists and ankles securely restrained at the corners.  Six long sharp needles penetrated deep into his flesh on either side of his ribcage, two more protruded from his abdomen; each one attached to a wire trailing from an electric generator across the room where the Regenerant was currently fiddling with some dials.

            He’d been slipping in and out of consciousness for hours.  His whole world had descended into a dark haze of pain that his brain had decided he should have as little to do with as possible.  Now the only thing pulling him out of his almost comatose state were the frequent jolts of electric current wracking his body.  The harsh internal shocks passed through the needles, sending the surrounding muscles into agonising convulsive cramps that only eased once the current was switched off.  Over the past few days, the Regenerant had been steadily increasing both the voltage and the length of the shocks.

            The Regenerant gave the last dial a final twist upwards then turned back to regard Lister, “Right.  Let’s see what effect this has...” He flicked the switch on the generator and Lister’s head snapped back, his back arching off the table as the current hit him and a scream ripped from his throat............................

 

            _“No!” _Rimmer jerked awake, his face wet with tears, and it took him a few moments to realise his awful vision had just been a nightmare.  He sank back to the floor, moaning.  The thought was little comfort.  For all he knew, what Lister was actually going through could be even worse.  He’d clung to the knowledge that the Regenerant needed to keep Lister alive, but that meant next to nothing.  You could inflict a lot of pain and damage without killing someone.

            He stared at the tally he was keeping on the wall.  Fourteen weeks now.  And still no sign of rescue.  It had occurred to him more than once during his long nights of loneliness that perhaps Cat and Kryten simply weren’t coming.  He had no doubt that they would rescue them if they could – Rimmer was well aware that if they were willing to risk their lives for him, then they’d do so ten times over for Lister – but what if it just wasn’t possible?  What if they couldn’t track them down?  Or what if they _did_ find them but weren’t able to help them?  What if they already _had_ tried and had died in the attempt?  Forgotten in his cell, Rimmer had no way of knowing anything that was happening elsewhere on the ship.

            Perhaps they would both die here, without ever seeing their crew-mates – or each other – ever again.  Optimism had never been a talent Rimmer had been able to master; and the circumstances were not ideal for him to be making his first stabs at it.  Lister had always been the optimist for both of them, always able to find the silver lining in any situation.  If even he was ready to throw the towel in, admit defeat and just end it all...what hope did that leave Rimmer?  


	3. Chapter 3

         As Rimmer lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling and contemplating which might come first – death or madness – he heard a rumble somewhere in the distance.  It was only faint, like far-off thunder, but it made him sit up and listen simply because he hadn’t heard it before.  He waited, listening carefully to see if it would be repeated.  It was.  Much more dramatically than he’d been expecting.

            There was an almighty crash and the entire ship shuddered violently, throwing Rimmer to the floor.  Sirens started blaring through the corridors.  Rimmer scrambled to his feet and ran to the door of his cell; peering through the glowing bars to try and see what was happening.  The corridor was deserted but he could hear running feet approaching.  “Hello?” he shouted over the noise, “Is there anyone there?  What’s happening?”  Another blast rocked the ship, nearly knocking him off his feet.  He swore under his breath and tried again.  “Can anyone hear me?  Hello!!!”

            The sound of feet stopped momentarily, then started up again in Rimmer’s direction.  He swallowed hard.  Maybe that hadn’t been the best idea after all.  Who knew what might be heading towards him?  It could be some terrible beast from the depths of hell...He shrank back from the doorway as it rounded the corner, but it had spotted him.

            “Mister Rimmer!”

“Kryten?!”  Rimmer’s eyes fairly bugged out.  The mechanoid hit a switch on the far wall and the bars crossing the door of Rimmer’s cell went out with a swift droning noise.  Rimmer staggered out, half-convinced this was all some elaborate hallucination. 

            “Are you okay, Sir?”

“What the smeg is that noise?” Rimmer asked unsteadily.

“The Cat, Sir.  He’s creating a diversion.  He seems to be rather enjoying it.”

“A diversion?  He’s going to bring the whole smegging ship down around our ears!”  

“Sir, please!  We don’t have much time!  Where’s Mister Lister?”

            Rimmer forced himself to focus.  “He’s down in some sort of lab.  At least he was last time I saw him.”

“Do you remember the way?”

“I think so.”

“Then we must hurry.  We need to get to him before the Regenerant realises what’s happening!”  They took off down the corridor at a run.

            When they found the place they were looking for, Rimmer ran straight to the observation window.  Lister was lying on a small cramped bed inside, hooked up to what looked like a drip.  His eyes were open but he seemed uninterested in the chaos going on outside; until a loud blast and the crash of exploded glass made it impossible to ignore.  He looked up to see Rimmer and Kryten stepping through what had been the window, holding a smoking bazookoid.  “Guys?  Is it really you?” he asked weakly, trying to sit up.

            Kryten set down the bazookoid and rushed to his master, while Rimmer hovered nearby.  “Mister Lister!  Oh, Sir, are you alright?  I’ve been so worried!”

“I’ve been better,” Lister smiled half-heartedly.  He surveyed the wreckage, “The door wasn’t locked, you know.”

“Oh.  Sorry, Sir,” Kryten said, a little shamefully.

“Never mind.  So long as he doesn’t catch up with us to ask for the repair bill.”

“Can you walk?” Rimmer asked anxiously, as Kryten gently removed the needle from Lister’s hand and started hunting for his clothes.  “If you help me.  Running probably isn’t an option though.”

“I was afraid of that,” Rimmer replied glumly. 

            He hopped impatiently from foot to foot as Kryten helped Lister into the black t-shirt and leathers he’d been wearing when they’d been captured.  He couldn’t help but notice that Lister seemed to have acquired a lot of new scars since then, but didn’t say anything.  Lister looked over at him, and suddenly his eyes widened.  “I nearly forgot, man!”

“What are you talking about?” Rimmer asked impatiently.  Lister reached over Kryten’s head as he buckled his boots on for him and picked up a small remote control lying on the counter nearby.  “We might want to keep this.”  He pointed it at Rimmer and pressed the button.

            Rimmer felt a strange sensation in his chest as his light bee stopped moving and just had time to say “What...?” before he disappeared.  He burst back into life a moment later in a different uniform.  “...are you doing?”  He’d finished the sentence before he even realised he was back on-line.  He looked down at himself.  “What did you do?”

            Lister grinned and tossed the remote at him.  Rimmer caught it and then looked down in astonishment at his hand.  “What...How...?”

“Congratulations,” Lister said, as Kryten helped him stand, “You’re now a hard-light hologram.”

“Hard-light?  You mean,” he faltered, “I can touch things?”

“Bingo.  You can start by getting your arse over here and helping me to the ship.”

            Supporting Lister between them, they ran for the docking bay and Blue Midget.  Kryten took off as Rimmer helped a now very weak Lister to lie down.  As they sped out into the freedom of space, Starbug appeared from the other side of the Regenerant’s ship and opened up her docking port to bring them safely inside before speeding back towards Red Dwarf.


	4. Chapter 4

 

            Once they were safely back on Starbug, Kryten immediately rushed Lister into the medi-bay.  Rimmer sat outside and waited tensely for terrible news. 

            It didn’t come.  When Kryten finally reappeared he seemed baffled, but relieved.  “He seems fine,” he assured him, “Malnourished and extremely weak, but there’s nothing seriously wrong with him.  He just needs rest.”

“But,” Rimmer was astounded, “What about those scars all over his stomach?”  Kryten shrugged, indicating he was equally confused, “Mister Lister won’t elaborate, Sir.  He just says they were from ‘tests and stuff’.  I’m not sure if he knows himself exactly what was done to him.”

“But he’s okay?” Rimmer double-checked, just to be sure.

“I think so, Sir.  It seems you’ve both escaped your little adventure without any lasting damage.”

            Rimmer narrowed his eyes.  In his opinion, ‘little adventure’ didn’t quite sum up what would have been better described as ‘three and a half months of pure hell’.  But, seeing as Lister was alright, and he himself was still on a high from receiving his hard-light body, he decided to let the comment pass.

            Lister spent a few days in the medi-bay, and then moved back into the sleeping quarters to finish re-cooperating there.  Rimmer kept a wary eye on him, in case Kryten had missed anything, and brought him meals and magazines to read.  He’d definitely lost a lot of weight, and he wasn’t quite himself, but on the whole he seemed to be fine.

            Although it was a long journey back to Red Dwarf, Holly was okay guiding them for the most part.  She only needed one person to be in the cockpit at any time, just to carry out any little tasks that would be helpful, and to keep an eye on the scanners for her.  Rimmer, Cat and Kryten took it in turns, doing two-hour shifts on rotation.  The rest of the time they were free to do as they liked.  

            One afternoon, as Rimmer sat bored on his lunchtime shift, he started flicking idly through the various scans running on the ship.  Fuel, fine.  Engines, fine.  Nothing on mid-range.  Nothing on long-range.  Life-forms, five.  Supplies, moderate.  Cooling systems.....Wait a minute.

            Rimmer stopped and went back a few screens.  Life forms, _five?_  He hit the details button, his heart pounding.  It had to be a mistake.  There was no way they could have picked anything up!  He looked through the information in front of him with growing unease. 

One in the laundry-room; that would be Kryten.  One in the linen closet in the rear-section; that would be the Cat – he’d taken to napping in there recently.  One in the cockpit; that was him.  And in his sleeping quarters; two.  Lister...and something else.    

            Rimmer grabbed a bazookoid, and ran out.

            Lister was sitting quietly in his bunk when Rimmer burst in, waving the gun in front of him.  “Where is it?” he panted, “Are you okay?  What happened?”  Lister looked at him blankly, “What are you talking about?”

“There’s another life-form in here, I saw it on the scanner!”

“There’s nothing in here, man.  I would know.  Are you sure you were reading it right?”

“I’m positive.  The scanner listed two life-forms in this room, and I don’t think it can have been Cat or Kryten.”

“No, they haven’t been in here,” Lister confirmed, and Rimmer saw something in his expression darken.  Obviously, the situation was starting to sink in.  Rimmer started to search the room, bazookoid at the ready, “It might be another shape-shifter.  Have a good look around, Lister.  Is there anything in here you don’t recognise, anything you haven’t noticed before?  Lister?  Lister?”

            When he didn’t get any reply, he turned back to face his bunkmate.  Lister was sitting up in his bed, doubled over, holding his stomach as if in pain.  There were tears running down his face.  Rimmer went to him, concerned.  “What is it?  What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure,” Lister whispered miserably, “I thought maybe if he was wrong, or if something happened, then I’d never have to tell.  I hoped you guys would never find out.”

“Lister, what are you talking about?” Rimmer was scared now.  Lister looked up at him, half-amused, half-angry, “You really can’t work it out?”

“No!  Just spit it out for smeg’s sake!  What’s the problem?” 

            Lister grabbed hold of Rimmer’s wildly gesturing hand and, without a word, brought it to his stomach.  It took a minute for the penny to drop, but when it did it hit Rimmer with all the force of a collapsing building.  “Oh God,” he said weakly, “Not again...”  


	5. Chapter 5

 

            “You’re pregnant?!” Rimmer said despairingly, “You mean that lunatic son of a prostidroid actually worked out a way of getting a baby out of you?  How the hell did he do it?”

“I’m not sure,” Lister wiped his eyes, “He tried loads of stuff and mostly it didn’t work.  He probably would have given up except that he found the scar...from before.  I tried to lie, I told him it was nothing, but he didn’t believe me; he tortured me until I told him everything.  After that, there was no stopping him.  He operated on me over and over trying to recreate what had happened.”

Rimmer felt sick.  All his worst fears about what could have happened to Lister in that place had just been confirmed.  Lister continued, “Most of the time what he tried just didn’t work at all, and sometimes it seemed to work for a couple of days, but then something would always go wrong and I’d get really ill, or start bleeding internally and he’d have to start all over again.  I almost died a few times, but he just wouldn’t give up.  He’d wait a week or so for me to recover then try something else.”

            Listening to the story, Rimmer could see why Lister had been ready for suicide.  With things the way they were, it had probably seemed a quicker, kinder way to a fate that already seemed certain at any time.  “Finally,” Lister said, “Just a few days before we were rescued, something seemed to work.  He seemed really confident that this time it would all go right, that he’d cracked it.  It had gone wrong so many times before I didn’t really expect anything much, and then when you rescued me I was sure the stress would ruin things anyway.  I’d already lost so many...But nothing happened and I started to hope that maybe he’d just got it wrong.  That’s why I didn’t say anything, man.  I thought...I thought everything would be okay....!”  He made another vain attempt to wipe the tears away.

            “I don’t understand,” Rimmer said weakly, “How could that imbecile of a droid have missed the fact that you were up the duff?”  Lister gave a short laugh, “This may strike you as terribly inefficient, Rimmer, but the one thing that Kryten didn’t feel the need to do was give me a pregnancy test.  I can’t think why.”

Rimmer slumped down beside him, “What the smeg are we going to do?  We’re not going to be back at Red Dwarf for weeks yet!  We need a proper medi-unit! You need to have to have scans, blood tests!”  _We need to be able to help you if things go wrong_, he thought to himself; but didn’t say it out loud.  Lister didn’t seem to pick up on Rimmer’s concern.  He gave a small smile, “You almost sound like you’re looking forward to it.”

“What?” Rimmer stared at him.

“I know you tried not to let on, Rimmer, but when I had Jim and Bexley I could tell it was driving you nuts that you couldn’t be more involved.  But now you’ve got a hard-light drive you can do all the stuff you couldn’t last time.”

“And you actually want me to?” Rimmer was amazed.  Lister gave a deep sigh and leaned back against his pillows,

“Rimmer,” he said patiently, “This may be the only time I will ever say this, so listen carefully.  You are a smeghead.  You are annoying, anal and pernickety.  But despite all that, you are also disciplined and organised.  And I am not.  Kryten’s going to panic and Cat’s not going to give a toss; I need someone to help me hold things together.  I need you.”

            They were three little words that nobody had ever spoken to Rimmer before in his life.  He never could have imagined how they would make him feel.  Embarrassed that Lister might see how emotional he was getting, he forced his features into a stern expression.  “You need to stop smoking.”

“I already have, smeghead.  Haven’t you noticed?”

“And drinking.”

“I know!”

“And we need to do something with your diet right away.  You’re malnourished as it is; considering your condition you should be gaining weight much quicker than you have been.  I’ll work out a nutritional plan for you.”

“You know, I’m starting to regret this already...”

“And we need to talk to Kryten.  There might be some things that we can get started with here, and he’ll have some idea what are resources are like in the medi-bay.”

“Rimmer?”

“Yes?”

“Just tell me everything’s going to be okay.”  There was a pause.

“Everything’s going to be just fine, Listy.”

“Thank you.”

 

 

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

 

            The best they could do aboard Starbug was to work out how far along Lister’s pregnancy was.  Kryten estimated about eight weeks, but with no proper equipment there was little else he could tell them.  All they could do was to keep a close eye on his blood pressure and so on, to ensure that his health - and the baby’s – remained good. 

            It wasn’t until Rimmer thought back much, much later that it occurred to him that at no point had anybody voiced, or even _entertained_ the notion, that Lister might not want to go ahead with this.  Even the Cat, never the most sensitive creature at the best of times, had never dropped a remark into the conversation like, “Hey Buddy, if you change your mind we can always flush it, right?”  Without a word being spoken, they had all known instinctively that this baby was wanted; and not just by Lister.  This was going to be a team effort; they _all_ wanted this baby.

            Rimmer was keeping a strict eye on all aspects of Lister’s life.  Everything from his diet to his breathing exercises was under twenty-four hour scrutiny, and although Lister was regularly frustrated by Rimmer stalking his every movement, mostly he was glad to have the support.

            The weeks seemed to drag by.  Rimmer was certain that Lister wasn’t gaining the weight he should be.  Only a proper scan would determine whether the baby was a healthy size and they didn’t have the facility on Starbug to carry one out.  Lister too was becoming concerned, but was trying to hide it.  He pointed out to Rimmer how ironic it was that after years of telling him he was a fat pig, he was now panicking because he wasn’t fat enough.  “It’s not that I don’t think you’re _fat_ enough,” Rimmer told him sternly, “It’s that I don’t think you’re _pregnant_ enough.  You should be showing a lot more by now.  You’re not half the size you were when you had Jim and Bexley.”

“Of course I’m not,” Lister replied crossly, “Reason being I had two babies stuffed in me and not just the one.  Anyway, it would make sense if this one’s smaller, because _I’m_ smaller.  You said it yourself at the time – the twins were big babies because of my diet.  I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.”

            But of course they did worry, and so did Kryten, but until they got back to Red Dwarf there was nothing they could do.  The Cat alone seemed unfazed by everything and was concentrating on creating a stylish nursery and wardrobe for the new arrival.  One night as Rimmer was helping Lister through his breathing exercises, the Cat came in with some swatches of material.  “Hey Bud!  I found some old suits of mine that weren’t fashionable anymore, so I’m using them to make some cool stuff for the baby!  What do you think – bonnets or booties?”

“Booties, please, man.  Bonnets are a bit too cutesy for girls, and not suitable for boys.”

“Booties it is.”  Cat spun and made his way back to his sewing.

            “You know,” Rimmer said, as Lister lay back down, “You haven’t said yet whether you want a boy or a girl.”

“That’s because I don’t mind,” Lister said simply.  He cast a sidelong glance at Rimmer, “I’d bet those little booties that you’re hoping for a boy though.”

“That’s not fair.  I’d be just as happy with a girl.”

“I’m sure you would.  But I bet it’s not what you’re _hoping_ for, is it?” Lister smiled knowingly.  “And before you even suggest it, if it is a boy we’re not calling it Napoleon.  And _definitely_ not Adolf.”

“Actually,” Rimmer said mildly, “I was thinking of Stephen.  After Stephen Hawking; the greatest scientist of the twentieth century.  It seemed appropriate somehow considering the situation.”

“Who?” Lister said blankly and shook his head, “Never mind, I’m sure I wouldn’t understand if you tried to explain his work to me.  But Stephen...” He pondered for a moment, “I think I could live with Stephen.  Stephen Lister.”

“Really?” Rimmer was surprised, “You like it?”

“Yeah,” he smiled.

“What if it’s a girl?”

“Krissie,” Lister said, with some finality.

“Ah, right,” Rimmer said, and knew there was no point in arguing it.

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

            They were still two weeks away from Red Dwarf; and Rimmer and Kryten were seriously concerned.  They hadn’t shared their fears with Lister yet, but after his last check-up the two of them had needed a long talk. 

            “Things aren’t right, are they?” Rimmer had said dismally, once Lister was safely out of hearing range in the sleeping quarters.  “No, Sir.  They are not,” Kryten confirmed, equally dismal.  “Despite all our efforts to improve Mr Lister’s dietary intake, he’s not gained the weight he should.  In fact, over the past couple of weeks he’s actually _lost_ a few pounds.”  Rimmer closed his eyes and sighed heavily,

“Which means the baby’s not growing,” he said quietly.

“Yes, Sir.  And I still can’t pick up a heartbeat through the stethoscope.”

“We know the baby’s not dead,” Rimmer pointed out, with some hope, “The scan is still reporting five life signs on Starbug.  As long as it does, we know it’s still alive.”

“It’s alive, Sir, but it’s very, very weak.  Unless things start to improve soon, I don’t think it will last the journey back to Red Dwarf.”

“What can we do?” Rimmer asked hopelessly.

“For now, Sir?  All we can do is wait.”

            They continued to watch Lister carefully, monitoring his weight every day and checking that no meals went unfinished, until he was so fed up with it that he asked them rather icily if they would prefer to just tie him to a chair and force a tube down his throat.  “Lister, this is all for your own good,” Rimmer replied patiently, “Yours _and_ the baby’s.”

“I know that,” Lister snapped, “And I know you guys are just trying to help, but you’re driving me up the wall!  I feel like a contestant on _Whose Womb Is It Anyway?_  I’m eating as much as I can smegging well pack in, alright?  If I eat too much and start throwing up that’s not going to do me much good either!  Just give it a rest!”

            Since then they had backed off as much as they dared.  They had considered telling him why they were so worried, but had agreed that the added stress it would cause him would probably do more harm than good.  They had waited.

 

            The three of them were in the mid-section, keeping out of Lister’s way for a while so he could have a nap, when the first blast hit the ship. 

“What the hell was that?” Rimmer yelled as they ran to their stations in the cockpit.

“Some kind of missile,” Cat yelled back, checking the damage report, “Only a minor one.  Someone’s trying to disable us!”

“Incoming message, Sirs!” Kryten called out, “Punching it up!”

            The screen above them fizzed and crackled into life.  Rimmer felt his blood run cold as the Regenerant glared down at them.  “Gentlemen,” he said in a low threatening voice, “I believe you have something that belongs to me.”

            Despite the icy fear spreading through his guts, Rimmer felt a flare of hot anger surge up, “He’s not yours, you demented overblown transformer!” he snarled at the screen, “He’s _ours _and you’re not getting your filthy hands on him!”

“You can’t outrun me,” the Regenerant said matter-of-factly, “You cannot escape.  If you stop now and allow me to take him back to my ship then I will let the rest of you go.  If you do not, I will disable your craft very _permanently_, board you anyway, kill any of you who stand in my way and then take him once you are dead.  It is your decision.”

“You step foot on this ship, dogface, and we’ll dismantle your creepy robo-ass!” The Cat snarled. 

The Regenerant smiled, “Have it your way.”

            The screen went black.  Five seconds later, another blast hit Starbug.  “What do we do?” Rimmer yelled over the noise.

“I don’t think we can stop him, Sir!” Kryten shouted back, “Perhaps we can find some way of fighting him off when he gets here, but it looks like he’s going to board us no matter what!”

            Lister appeared in the doorway, “What’s happening?  Are we under attack?”  Rimmer jumped out of his seat, grabbed Lister and pulled him out of the cockpit and into the mid-section.  “Ow!  What’s going on?” Lister demanded, rubbing his arm indignantly.  “It’s the Regenerant,” Rimmer said bluntly.  There was no time to mess around breaking it gently, “He’s caught up with us and he’s coming to take you back.”  He saw the blood disappear from Lister’s face at once.

“What...What...” he stammered.

            “There’s no time to lose,” Rimmer said, rummaging through a locker across the room.  He pulled out a pistol, checked it was loaded and shoved it into Lister’s hand.  “You take this, you lock yourself in our sleeping quarters and you don’t come out until one of us comes to get you.  No matter what you hear going on down here, you stay in there and you do not unlock that door.  Understand?”

“But...”

“_Understand?_”

            Lister nodded, taken aback by Rimmer’s fierceness, “Yes,” he said meekly.

“Good,” Rimmer sighed, “Now go.  Now.”  Lister fled.  Rimmer dashed back into the cockpit, “What’s happening?”

“The thrusters are dead, bud.  We’re not going anywhere,” The Cat told him.

“The Regenerant’s ship is docking with us now, Sir.  He’ll be here in just a few minutes.”

“Right.  Cat, grab a bazookoid.  You too, Kryten.  Yes, I know you can’t use it, but he doesn’t necessarily know that.  Come on, let’s go.”

 


	8. Chapter 8

 

            The three of them took up their positions around the airlock and waited in a tense silence for the Regenerant to board.  There was a collective intake of breath as they heard the mechanism whirr and the airlock door hissed open.  The Regenerant stepped out.  He raised an eyebrow as the three of them took aim; seeming unconcerned.  “You’ve got three seconds to get back in the airlock and take yourself off this ship and out of this sector, or we open fire,” Rimmer said as toughly as he could.  “Oh please,” the Regenerant replied witheringly.  In one swift move, he karate chopped Kryten in the middle and twisted his head off as he doubled over.  The Cat fired, but the bazookoid pulled to the left and the shot went wide, missing its target and bursting a pipe across the room that sprayed cold water over them all.  In the confusion, the Regenerant splashed over, wrenched the bazookoid out of Cat’s hands and whacked him hard over the head with it.  He crumpled to the ground.  The Regenerant turned to Rimmer, who stood blocking the stairs to the habitation deck.  He took a step backwards, but held his ground.

            “Get out of my way, you pathetic little fool.” The Regenerant said dismissively.

 “No,” Rimmer swallowed hard.

“You’re wasting your time, hologram.  You couldn’t protect him before and you can’t protect him now.  Move aside.”

“You can’t knock _me_ out,” Rimmer said with tremulous bravado.

“No, but I can kill you.  A bullet through your light bee would sort you out just as tidily as any human.” The Regenerant drew out a rad-pistol and aimed it lazily at Rimmer, who huddled behind his bazookoid.  “That all depends on which of us can shoot first, miladdo.”

            “Ah, the classic _impasse_,” the Regenerant smiled, as though enjoying himself.  “Come now, surely a father has some rights over his unborn child?”

“You are _not_ our baby’s father,” Rimmer hissed, “And you don’t have any rights in this; just a big pile of wrongs.”

“_Our_ baby?” the Regenerant raised an eyebrow and Rimmer flushed as he realised what he’d said.  “You think _you_ have some claim over the child?  Hah!  Or perhaps...,” it looked at him shrewdly, “..._Perhaps_ you think you have some claim over its mother?”  Rimmer took a deep breath to calm himself,

“It doesn’t matter what claim you think I do or don’t have.  You’re not taking him.”    

“Or maybe I should take you too,” The Regenerant said thoughtfully.  “You proved so useful before in controlling the human.  The things he was willing to suffer to protect you...”

            “Shut up,” Rimmer snarled.  He felt sick.  He didn’t want to hear this.  Lying in that filthy cell it had haunted him day after day that Lister was enduring such horror partly to keep him safe.

             “Whether you like it or not, hologram, I _am_ that baby’s father; not you.  However much you - or _he_ – might wish it otherwise.”

“What are you talking about?” Rimmer snapped uncomfortably.

“I mean that I wasn’t just playing Victor Frankenstein, meddling with external forces to create and give life to something new.  Not that I didn’t try it that way.  It didn’t work.  No, I gave a little something of myself to this conception.  Sometimes the old ways are the best.  That _is_ my baby the human is carrying.”

“But you’re a robot!” Rimmer said.

“Only partly,” the Regenerant reminded him, “I was human once.  And after all my failed scientific interfering with the process came to nothing, I realised that the way forward, to be successful, had to be the most human way possible.  And believe me, hologram, I tried _every_ way possible.”

            Rimmer recoiled in horror, “You mean you...You...And he...”

“He wasn’t very willing, it has to be said.  Although he was a lot more accommodating when I threatened to saw off your legs.  That hard-light drive was a wonderful bargaining tool.”

“You really are insane,” Rimmer whispered.

“He would always submit to what I wanted eventually, if it meant preserving your worthless skin.  Although that first time he cried like a child.  He wept for you, calling out your name as if he really believed you would come and save him...”

Rimmer fired.  The shot hit the Regenerant in the shoulder, spinning him round with a flurry of sparks and making him drop the pistol.  But he recovered much more quickly than Rimmer had expected.  He kicked the bazookoid out of Rimmer’s hands and hurled him over the table, right across the room, where he lay dazed.

            “Of course,” the Regenerant said sadly, standing over him, “You didn’t save him.  And you won’t save him now.”  He turned away and started climbing the stairs to the sleeping quarters.  Rimmer tried to get up, tried to follow him, tried to _stop_ him.  But he was too weak, and he fell back down to the floor with tears streaming down his face.

 

 

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

            Lister paced up and down the sleeping quarters, the pistol clutched at his side, every muscle in his body knotted with anxiety. He strained his ears for a sound, for some clue as to what was taking place downstairs but there was nothing.  Obsessively, he checked and re-checked the pistol to make certain it was ready to fire.  It occurred to him that this stressing probably wasn’t all that good for the baby, so he forced himself to sit down and take a few deep breaths to calm himself.  He stroked the small bump of his stomach, really not much more than a pronounced curve despite all Rimmer and Kryten’s efforts, and whispered to it reassuringly, “It’s okay, sweetheart.  I’m not going to let that thing take us away.  Everything’s going to be fine, you’ll see.” 

            He hoped to God that was true.  He knew what awaited him if he were to be recaptured; and he knew in his heart that he couldn’t go back to that cold, dark laboratory.  Couldn’t face it’s glinting racks of grim stainless steel instruments – devices designed to save lives and end suffering, perverted into sterilised weapons of medical torture.  He couldn’t go back there; not and stay sane.

            And what about his baby?  If the monster’s vile experiments didn’t cause him to miscarry, what would happen once it was born?  What horrific kind of future did the Regenerant have planned for his child? 

            Lister looked hard at the pistol in his hand.  Regardless of what lay in store for him, he would not condemn his unborn baby to that fate.  If it came to it...If the worst were to happen and there was no escape, no way out, no hope...

            His heart pole-vaulted into his throat as he heard the explosive sound of a bazookoid shot downstairs.  Somewhere on the ship an alarm started to screech.  He got to his feet and listened intently, but couldn’t make anything out over the noise.  He didn’t know how long he stood there, frozen to the spot as completely as if he’d been doused with liquid nitrogen, waiting to hear something, anything to ease the pounding of his heart.  Another shot went off.  He clenched his fists and tried to swallow but his mouth was too dry.  “Please, guys, please...” he whispered, not even aware that he was speaking aloud. 

            He waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Suddenly, there came a loud banging on the door and he almost had an accident that had nothing to do with the effect pregnancy has on muscle control.  “Rimmer?” he called tremulously.

“’Fraid not,” the voice on the other side of the door replied, “Daddy’s home, sugar.”


	10. Chapter 10

           “What have you done to my crew-mates?” Lister demanded, his voice shaking.

 “Nothing they won’t recover from,” the Regenerant replied, sounding bored; “But if you don’t open this door, I might have to go back downstairs and change that...”

“Go to hell!” Lister snarled.

“Come now, you can’t stay in there forever.  Would the sound of your friends screaming draw you out?”

“No!” Lister replied sharply, feeling sick even as he said it.  _I’m so sorry, guys, but baby comes first. _ Rimmer himself had laid down the law – no matter what you hear, stay inside until it’s safe.  For once in his life Lister was going to listen to his superior.

            “I could break the door down, you know.  I’d rather not have to; it would waste time and effort, but I will if I have to.”  The Regenerant was starting to sound testy now.  “You can do what the hell you like, but I’m not coming out!” Lister yelled; “And I’ll die before I go back to that hellhole with you!”

“We’ll have to see about that,” the Regenerant said icily. 

            There was an echoing bang against the door.  Lister felt panic start to rise in him.  How long would the door hold out?  Probably not very long at all.  And if the bazookoids hadn’t slowed the thing down, then his pistol was next to useless.  _Bang_.  He needed another way out.  He needed a plan.  _Bang_.  Lister fled into the shower room and locked the door behind him.  It wouldn’t offer much defence but it might buy him some time.  Outside he heard a crunch as the door started to give way.  What could he do?  There had to be something!

            As he cast his eyes frantically around the bathroom, his gaze stopped on the hatchway in the ceiling.  He climbed up onto the toilet and pushed it open.  It might just be a crawlspace, in which case he’d be no better off.  He’d still be trapped.  He stood on tiptoe and peered in.  The ducts.  He gave a sigh of relief that was almost a sob.  An escape route.  There was a splintering, shattering sound from the next room.  The door was either going or gone.  Without waiting to find out which, Lister pulled himself up into the vent above and replaced the hatch. 

            It was almost completely dark inside.   Shafts of light flared up at rare intervals where another hatchway led back down into the ship, casting barred shadows onto the dirty metal walls.  Tentatively, Lister started to crawl along.  He needed to find out what had happened to the others.

 

            The Regenerant threw his shoulder against the bathroom door and it burst open.  “Now then...” it began, expecting to find the human huddled in a corner.  It stopped in consternation.  There was no-one here.  It turned, looking around itself a full 360 degrees.  No human.  It growled angrily.  Where had its prey disappeared to?  How had it managed to escape?  And then it saw the dirty footprint atop the white porcelain of the toilet cistern.  It looked up and hissed through its breath as it spotted the hatch.  The little bastard!  It climbed up and stuck its head through the hatch.  No sign.  It could be anywhere on the ship by now.  But where would it go?  It climbed down from the toilet and went back through the wrecked sleeping quarters into the corridors.


	11. Chapter 11

            Lister crawled through the small passageway, peering down now and then through the grates to see where he was.  He needed to find the mid-section and see what had happened to the others; he needed to know if he had back up.  If they were badly hurt, or worse, then he was on his own. 

            At last he found himself in the high ceiling above the galley.  Beneath him he could see the Cat slumped on the wet floor, and Kryten’s headless body nearby.  He couldn’t see Rimmer.  But maybe his light bee was smashed in a corner somewhere....

            Swallowing hard, he lay down by the grate and called softly, “Guys...Guys, it’s me...Are you okay?  Cat?  Kryten?  Please...?” His voice started to tremble.  They _had_ to be okay.  “Rimmer, are you there?  _Rimmer?_”  Tears started to slip down his face.  He didn’t know whether to be more frightened for them or for himself.

            “They’re not dead,” The Regenerant stepped into view beneath him, looking up at the hatch with a smile.  Lister scrambled back out of sight, but it was no use.  The bastard knew he was there even if he couldn’t get at him.  “They’re just unconscious.  I’ll wait for them to wake up before I really start to have fun with them.  Unless, of course, you want to come down.”  Lister huddled against the duct wall and didn’t reply.  He wouldn’t come down.  Not for anything.

            “Do you really think you can out-wait me?  That if you stay put for a few hours that I’ll give up and leave?  I won’t.  Do you plan to stay in there, getting colder and hungrier, until the little life that you’re so desperate to protect withers away and dies inside you?  Until you wither away too?”

            Lister wiped tears out of his eyes.  He couldn’t give in.  Terrible as it seemed, he would rather starve in this dark dusty vent and take his baby with him than give himself up to that thing down there.  To do that would be a fate worse than death, and he couldn’t let himself forget it, no matter how desperate things were.

            He crawled away unhappily from the grating, his teardrops making soft patting sounds as they hit the thick dust under his hands.  There had to be something he could do.  Perhaps if he could somehow get to Blue Midget he could make a run for it?  But no; if the Regenerant had caught up with them on Starbug, he could certainly catch Blue Midget and then there really would be nowhere for him to hide.  He just had to wait.  To hide and hope to God that the others would still be able to help him when they came round.

 

            Rimmer staggered along the corridor to the sleeping quarters.  His hologram image kept flickering between hard light and soft light, which meant he kept dropping his bazookoid.  He must have sustained some damage to his light bee when the Regenerant had thrown him across the mid-section, but he didn’t think it was serious; and even if it was, he didn’t care.  The thing that had finally got him up off the floor and moving again had been the sound of a door being smashed in.  Had the Regenerant found Lister trapped in the sleeping quarters and broken its way through the door to capture him?  He heard footsteps rounding the corner and threw himself into a dark alcove.  The Regenerant stormed past, looking pissed off and staring at the ceiling.  It didn’t have Lister.  Rimmer wondered briefly if he could get a fatal shot in from his hiding place, but dismissed the idea.  If he made a move now it would spot him before he had time to shoot, and this time it might decide to do more than throw him around a bit.  He couldn’t risk it; Lister needed him.  With new hope, Rimmer waited for it to pass and then set off again.  The sleeping quarters had indeed been breached, but there was no sign of Lister.  Had he dismissed their quarters as too obvious a hiding place and concealed himself somewhere else?  And if so, where?  


	12. Chapter 12

 

            Lister followed the maze of ducts to get to the generator at the heart of the ship.  It was big and noisy, but above all else it was warm.  He huddled into a tight ball and, confident his pursuer wouldn’t bother trying to get at him here, slept for a while to conserve his energy.  But after a string of nightmares, he woke up thirsty from the dry heat given off by the generator and aching from the hard floor; and feeling even worse than he had before he’d gone to sleep.  He was groggy and his stomach ached.  He hadn’t eaten for hours, but he didn’t dare go back down into the ship to find food.  The Regenerant was almost certainly waiting for him to do just that, and would be waiting to pounce as soon as Lister’s willpower gave.

            A flicker of hope stirred within him.  What if the others had managed to sort things out while he was sleeping?  What if they’d overpowered the Regenerant and were even now searching the ship for him with news that it was safe?  It was possible, wasn’t it?  Cautiously, he made his way back to the mid-section to see what was going on.

            As he approached the grid, he held his breath and moved as stealthily as he could to avoid detection.  If the Regenerant _was_ still around he didn’t want to draw any attention to himself.  Lying down flat on his paining stomach, he peered down into the galley.

            The Regenerant _was_ there; sitting at the table leafing through one of Lister’s magazines.  Kryten was still sprawled headless on the floor, but the Cat had been hauled up and tied to one of the other chairs, apparently still out of it.  There was still no sign of Rimmer.  Depressed, Lister slunk away; his spirits low.  No hope of rescue then, and no hope of getting to the fridge either.

            Further along the vent shaft he found a shallow pool left behind by the backwash of the recyc-water.  It wasn’t much and it tasted horrible, like old pennies, but Lister desperately needed a drink.  It was starting to seem more and more likely that he was going to be up here a long time.  And he knew it wouldn’t be too long before he’d have to face the fact that he might die up here.

 

            _If I were Lister, where would I go?_ Rimmer racked his brains to work it out.  ‘What would I do?’ wasn’t really applicable here.  Rimmer would have found himself the most tucked away hiding-place he could, probably in a wardrobe somewhere, and prayed.  That wasn’t the way Lister operated.  Lister may have retreated, but he would have retreated to a place of _defence_ rather than concealment.  Somewhere he could fight back, rather than just hide.  But where would he find such a place in the cramped confines of Starbug?  Rimmer ran his hands back through his hair, frustrated.  At least he’d managed to stop his light bee flickering; it had been frustrating and distracting finding his physical presence gone from one minute to the next.  Now he could focus properly.  _Think, Bonehead!  Think, damn you!  _He had to work this out.  And more importantly, he had to work it out before the Regenerant did. 

            He’d told Lister to shut himself in the sleeping quarters.  Lister had gone in that direction.  The Regenerant had obviously thought he’d be in there too, because he’d gone to the trouble of breaking the door down.  _A-ha....  _If Lister hadn’t been in there, why had the door been locked from the inside?  Why had the Regenerant  _needed_ to break it down?  So, Lister _had_ been in there, but had somehow disappeared in the time it took for his attacker to get through the door.  But how was that possible?  There was no other way out, so how had he escaped?  Rimmer went back to their quarters.  This time he noticed the bathroom door hanging off its hinges.  So, the bathroom door had been locked from the inside too.  He went through and looked around.  Somehow, Lister had managed to pull an impressive disappearing act in this sealed tiny space, but for the life of him – or rather death – Rimmer couldn’t work out how.  ‘What did you do, Listy?’ he murmured to himself, ‘How did you get out?’  And then, just like the Regenerant, Rimmer saw the footprint.  His face broke into a relieved smile.  The ducts.  He’d hidden himself in the ducts!  That was why the Regenerant had been looking up at the ceiling when he’d gone past!  He knew Lister was up there, but he didn’t know Starbug’s layout well enough to be able to go in after him without getting lost.  Rimmer felt a swell of pride in his resourceful bunkmate, “Well done, Skipper,” he said under his breath, and meant it.  He climbed onto the toilet and pulled himself into the vent shaft.

           

            Lister lay sadly on the floor.  His stomach ached for food; and a loud, angry gurgle from that direction made him sigh.  He gently stroked his tummy, “I know, baby, I’m hungry too,” he whispered.  He sat up and breathed deeply.  He couldn’t just lie here and wait for death.  He couldn’t sit here despairing, hoping the others would sort this out.  He had to act.  Okay, so the Regenerant was guarding the kitchen, but there was food elsewhere on Starbug.  They had storerooms full of the stuff, some of them pretty far from the mid-section too.  If he could find one with a hatchway inside, or even close by, he could probably climb down and get some supplies and get back up to safety without the Regenerant ever knowing.  He set off with a new sense of purpose.  Deliberately avoiding the area around the galley, he went to check-out all the storerooms he could think of.  To his disappointment, he found that most of them had been set away from the ducts, probably to keep vermin out.  At last, just as he was thinking of giving up, he found one.  The hatchway was inside but it was set very high up in the ceiling.  Too far to jump.  Lister slumped down, defeated, exhausted and miserable.  Starvation it was then.  But then he saw the boxes.  He pulled open the hatchway and stuck his head through.  “Lock,” he said cautiously and the door clicked firmly.  Just to one side beneath the grating was a stack of crates, piled up almost to the ceiling.  If he could angle himself just right...then maybe, just maybe...he could get across to them and climb down.  He felt another cramp deep in his stomach and winced.  He wasn’t in the best condition to be trying acrobatics, but if he didn’t at least give it a go he had nothing to look forward to but death anyway.

            Carefully, he climbed down out of the hatchway, until he was hanging from the grating.  He swung forward gently and felt his toes brush the crates.  He used his feet to push against them and increase the momentum of his swing.  Next time he scrabbled for a moment with his feet, but lost his grip and swung away again.  The third time he got his feet planted and launched himself forward, letting go of the grating.  He fell heavily onto the crates, and stopped for a moment to catch his breath before clambering down to the ground.  He tore open the first box he came too and pulled out a bottle of water, three packets of dried fruit and nuts, some dried sausage and a tin of spam.  A feast indeed.  He ripped open one bag of fruit and nut and tipped the whole lot into his mouth, to try and appease his complaining stomach, then started to hunt for something to carry his treasure away in.

 

           

 

 

 

 

  


	13. Chapter 13

 

            Up in the ducts, Rimmer was congratulating himself on how clever he was.  He’d wondered how he would find Lister in this dark winding maze, but he’d come up with a solution very quickly.  All he’d had to do was follow the tracks he’d left in the dust.  It was lucky that the Regenerant hadn’t noticed them, or he could have followed him with ease, no matter where he’d managed to crawl to.  Which was exactly what Rimmer intended to do.  Perhaps together they could work out some kind of plan.  At the very least, there was safety in numbers. He’d hung onto the bazookoid, and at the moment it was slung across his back; although, from what he’d already seen, he wasn’t sure how much use it was.  But as far as Rimmer was concerned, any weapon was better than no weapon.  Even the Regenerant had to have a weak spot somewhere.  All he had to do was find it.  And Lister.

 

            Down in the storeroom, Lister had filled an old linen potato sack with as much food and water as he could carry.  Hauling it up over his shoulder, he started to scramble back up the stacked crates to the hatchway in the ceiling.  Getting down had been tricky, getting back in, especially with the extra baggage, was going to be harder.  If he could lean across and get a decent grip on the grating that was still hanging open, he was certain he had enough upper body strength – particularly now he’d lost so much weight – to pull himself back up inside the vent.  If not, he’d have to climb back down and risk searching the corridor for a more accessible shaft.  When he reached the top, he shuffled as near to the edge as he dared and reached out tentatively.  The grating was just a couple of inches out of reach.  Lister paused and thought for a second.  He didn’t want to risk leaving the safety of this locked room unless he absolutely had to.  He climbed down onto the boxes beneath him and tested how sturdy a base they were.  They seemed pretty solid.  If he could push the topmost crate just a few inches more towards the hatchway, he was certain he could get hold of it.  And a couple of inches shouldn’t make a hell of a lot of difference to the weight distribution of the stack, even with him balanced on the edge.  They were certainly heavier than him.  He put his shoulder against the crate and pushed.  It shifted slightly with a scraping, groaning sound.  He pushed harder and there was a sudden sharp pain in his stomach.  He gasped, “Okay, okay,” he said soothingly, holding himself, “That’s enough exercise for today.  I get the picture.”  He climbed back onto the topmost box.  He hadn’t pushed it as far as he’d meant to, but he thought he could reach now.  He got into position and stretched out his arm.  He realised with relief that he was going to be able to get hold of the grating this time, and braced himself to grab hold of it and swing out.

            But his brief moment of triumph was quickly cut short when he felt the boxes starting to rock beneath him.  He started to pull back to steady himself, but it was already too late; they were going to tip.  “Oh, sh...!!!” he managed to gasp out before they gave way beneath him with a crash and he plummeted to the hard floor beneath.  He hit the ground with a stinging thud, and barely had time to register the pain before a crate fell on him.

 

            In the mid-section, the Regenerant heard the distant thunder of heavy things falling and stood up.  That didn’t sound like it had happened by chance.  It took out the rad-pistol from its jacket and went to investigate.

 

            Rimmer heard the noise too, and started to crawl faster.  Whatever had just happened, it didn’t sound good.  He had a bad feeling about this, and the sooner he got to Lister, the better.

 

            Lister lay still on the floor for a few moments, recovering from the shock of the fall and waiting for the initial pain to ebb away.  After a few deep breaths, he managed to wriggle upright and tip the crate off himself.  He gave it a bad-tempered kick as he did so.  He ached all over; he had a nasty feeling that he’d broken his wrist in the fall and his back was throbbing from where the box had landed on top of him.  But worst of all, he felt like he’d swallowed a large hot coal that was burning its way through his stomach.   And he knew what that meant, because he’d felt it before. No,” he whimpered, “Please, no...”

 

           

 


	14. Chapter 14

 

            Lister tried to get up, but the different areas of pain all over his body combined forces and he crumpled down again.  He was trapped.  Even if he’d been able to stand, he couldn’t get back to the hatchway above him, and he was in no state to risk the corridors.  Nobody knew where he was, and the one person who might be in a position to help him was the person he was hiding from.  His baby was dying, which meant that he was dying too, and he was stuck in this dark, horrible storeroom where nobody would find him until it was too late. 

            He started to cry.  He’d known that this could all end in some dreadful way, he’d even been prepared for it – to a certain extent – but he’d hoped so much that things would work out.  That the guys would sort out the Regenerant, that the baby would be born safe and healthy, that he and Rimmer could somehow, against all reasonable expectation, be good parents together.  That they’d all live happily ever after.  Now it didn’t seem like any of them were even going to manage the ‘live’ part.  The pain in his stomach flared and he retched, doubling over in agony.  A cold clammy sweat had broken out all over his body.  He couldn’t breathe.

            The entry panel on the door lit up and then flashed red.   Lister looked up, helpless fear washing over him.  Just when he thought his heart couldn’t sink any lower, he heard what he’d been dreading on the other side of the door.  “Locked, eh?  I wonder who could be in here?  Let’s see if we can find out...”  There was a hollow clang and a large dent appeared in the thin metal of the door.

            Desperate, fighting against the pain overwhelming his body, Lister scrabbled with his feet and managed to haul himself into the darkest, furthest corner of the room, where he huddled behind another pile of boxes.  The door burst open and he screwed his eyes shut, trying to silence his laboured breathing.  There were footsteps approaching.  “If you’re in here, you may as well stop hiding,” the Regenerant said, “It would be more dignified than waiting for me to drag you out.”  Lister didn’t move.  He heard the Regenerant start shifting things around, searching for him.  He knew this was stupid; he knew it would only take the bastard a matter of minutes to find him in this pathetic hiding place.  But he didn’t care.  If the amount of pain he was suffering was anything to go by, there was still a chance he might be dead before the thing hauled him out.

            No such luck.  He felt a hand close around his arm and his eyes flew open.  “Boo!” The Regenerant grinned, “Found you!”  Lister lashed out, the last instinctive resort of a cornered animal, but the blow had no effect except to hurt his knuckles.  The Regenerant yanked sharply on his arm, pulling him roughly across the floor and into the middle of the room.  Lister screamed in pain and doubled over, curling up into a ball.  “Oh dear, oh dear...” the Regenerant said sadly, “Here we are again.  If you had only co-operated with me all this could have been avoided, you know.  Still, if we get you back to the ship quickly you’ll probably be alright.  And we know the magic formula now, don’t we?  You can still have another one.  Who knows?  Maybe even a few.”  It pulled Lister up onto his feet, gripping his injured wrist.  “After all, we have all the time in the world to try...” 

            “**_NO!_**”

            Lister twisted violently away, aiming a hard kick at his assailant and causing his wrist to shriek with pain.  Surprised and somewhat baffled by this fiery and utter disregard for self-preservation, the Regenerant actually let go of him.  Lister fell backwards onto the floor and scrambled back a few paces.  “I really don’t have time for this,” The Regenerant said in a low, threatening voice, standing over him, “Unless I operate in the next fifteen minutes or so, you are going to die and I don’t intend to let you ruin my plans so easily.  I’ll knock you senseless if I have too, and drag you back like a piece of meat, but you’re coming with me _now_.”

            It raised a fist to hit him hard around the head but Lister moved faster.  He’d told himself if there was no way out, no escape and no hope then he’d know what to do.  And he still had the loaded pistol in his pocket.  In an instant he had it out and pressed against his head.  The Regenerant froze, “Don’t you dare, you little bastard!” it snarled at him.

            The shot echoed around the tiny room with ear-splitting, deafening force.  There was just a moment to see the brief look of horror on the Regenerant’s face before a second shot tore off what remained of its head.  The body fell jerking and fizzing to the floor.  Lister, stunned and more than a little shaken, let the pistol slip from his fingers to the floor; where it discharged and blew a hole in one of the crates across the room, making him jump out of his skin yet again.

            Rimmer dropped down from the ceiling hatch and landed with a thump in front of him, the smoking bazookoid slung across his back.  He crawled over and grabbed him frantically by the shoulders, “Lister!  Lister, are you okay?”  Lister stared at him for a second, then burst into tears.  Rimmer pulled him roughly into a tight hug, “It’s okay, it’s okay,” he said soothingly, holding him tight, “Everything’s going to be alright now,”  Lister pulled back, shaking his head, “No, it isn’t!” he choked out, “The baby!  Rimmer, I’m losing the baby and I don’t think there’s anything we can do!  It’s too late!”  He dissolved into sobs.

            Without a word, Rimmer got to his feet, picked Lister up into his arms and ran for the medi-bay.  They collided with the Cat in the hallway, “What’s going on, buddy?!”

“How did you get loose?” Rimmer asked, panting.

“Hey, I’m a Cat!  I can do things that make Yoga experts look like arthiritic old ladies!  I just had to wait for the robo-dude to leave the room.  What’s happening?”

Rimmer was already setting off again down the corridor, “No time!”  He yelled, “Get Kryten’s head back on and bring him to the medi-bay!  Pronto!!!”

 

                                                                                                            


	15. Chapter 15

 

            Inside the medi-bay, Rimmer lay Lister down gently on the bed and started ransacking the cupboards for chloroform.  “Hold on, Listy.  Kryten will know what to do, but until he gets here I’m just going to give you something for the pain, okay?”  Lister nodded helplessly and said nothing.  Finally, Rimmer found a bottle and a clean cloth and came over to the bed.  “Okay, here we go...Just a few deep breaths and you’ll be away with the fairies in no time at all, and you can leave everything else to us.  Okay?”

“Rimmer!” Lister reached up and grabbed his wrist tightly.  Rimmer put his hand over his, “What is it, Listy?”

“I want you to promise me...” he wheezed out, “If things go really bad, if you have to choose between us, I want you to promise you’ll save the baby.”

“Lister...” he said uneasily.

“Please!”

“Okay,” Rimmer squeezed his hand soothingly, “If that’s really what you want,”

            Kryten hurried in, followed by the Cat, “Don’t panic, Sirs!  Everything’s going to be just fine!” he jabbered, his voice betraying his own rising hysteria, “Now, where’s that scalpel?  Oh, yes, and the antiseptic...”

“Promise me!” Lister insisted, tearfully.  Rimmer swallowed hard,

“I promise,” he said softly, knowing even as he spoke that it was a promise he had no intention of keeping.  God knew, he wanted this baby as much as any of them, but if he had to choose between the small, mysterious stranger coming into their lives or the one person who meant most to him in the whole world, there was no competition.  He chose Lister.

            He administered the chloroform and within moments Lister was out of it.  Kryten fired up the laser-scalpel while Rimmer and the Cat stood anxiously nearby.  The whole process seemed to be taking forever.  Rimmer waited with his heart in his throat, praying that any moment he would hear the shrill tinny sound of a baby crying and that he would know that everything was fine.  Even a small sigh of relief from Kryten would have been a blessing, but there was nothing.  And as the minutes ticked by, Rimmer knew it was more and more unlikely that this was going to have a happy ending.

            Eventually, after what seemed like a lifetime, Kryten straightened up with something tiny cradled in his blood-stained gloves.  “Oh, Sir...” he said with desperate sadness, turning to Rimmer with his eyes heavy with grief.  Rimmer swallowed down the lump in his throat, “Oh God,” he said wretchedly, staring at the pathetic thing Kryten was holding out to him.  He picked up the blanket Kryten had laid ready, and silently wrapped the small sad bundle up.  The Cat stared fixedly at the floor for a while, then turned and left the room without a word.  Rimmer too, moved towards the door.  “I’m going to put this somewhere out of sight for a while,” he said softly, “Lister shouldn’t see this until he’s ready.”  Kryten nodded silently, then turned his back and focused on finishing up the operation.


	16. Chapter 16

          

           When Lister came round, he found Rimmer sitting alone by his bedside, gently holding his hand.  His other arm was wrapped in plaster up to the elbow.  It was broken then.  He wanted to sit up, but he was too weak and achy.  “Do you feel okay?” Rimmer asked quietly.  Lister ignored the patently stupid question and cut right to the chase.  “Rimmer, the baby.  Where is it?  Is it alright?”  The expression on Rimmer’s face told him all he needed to know before he’d spoken a word in reply.  “Lister, I’m so sorry,” he said simply. 

            For a while, neither of them spoke.  Rimmer kept hold of Lister’s hand and let him cry; and let himself cry too, for the first time in way too many years.  And finally, when Lister had calmed somewhat, he asked Rimmer to tell him what had happened.

            “Listy,” he said as gently as he could, “The baby...it was...It had so many things wrong with it.  Even without everything that happened yesterday, I don’t think there’s any chance you could have carried it full term.  It was only a matter of time.”

“So,” Lister looked at him searchingly, “There was really..._nothing_...that would have made a difference?” 

            Rimmer looked back at him, and even though he knew he couldn’t have brought himself to follow Lister’s request that they place the baby’s life before his own, he thought he would never be as grateful for anything as the fact that he didn’t have to lie at this moment. 

            “No,” he said, “I’m sorry, Lister.  There really was nothing we could have done.”  Lister looked down and nodded sadly, accepting that this was indeed the truth.  “Was it a boy or a girl?” he asked softly, after a few moments silence.  Rimmer squeezed his hand,

 “It wasn’t really anything, Lister.  It just hadn’t grown and... and I think maybe...its conception was so screwed up in the first place, that couldn’t have helped matters.  I don’t think it ever really had a chance.”

“Can I see it?” Lister asked quietly.

“If you’re sure you want to.” 

“I’m sure,” Lister said firmly.

            Rimmer left and returned a few moments later with the small bundle cradled respectfully in his arms.  He sat down and handed it carefully to Lister, who gently unfolded the blanket and stared down at the tiny, still figure within.  His eyes filled up with fresh tears and he shook his head bitterly, “You’re right,” he said tearfully to Rimmer, “The poor little thing never had a chance.”  Weeping silently, he tenderly wrapped it back into the folds of the blanket and hugged it to him for a moment, “I’m sorry, kid,” he whispered softly, “I tried my best, I really did.”

            Rimmer moved over to sit beside him on the bed and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.  Lister leaned against him gratefully, and they sat that way for a long time, waiting for the tears to stop. 


	17. Chapter 17

 

            The funeral the next morning was a brief, quiet affair.  There was very little to say, and Lister in particular didn’t seem inclined to drag things out with unnecessary posturing.  After the short service, and once the tiny body had been committed to the stars, he had gone back to the sleeping quarters and shut the door behind him, leaving the others to carry on with the day’s duties in a depressed silence.

            Rimmer waited an hour or so before going to find him.  He was sitting on the lower bunk, playing distractedly with a teddy bear the Cat had made for the baby.  He had obviously been crying, but at the moment he just looked slightly lost.  He moved over when Rimmer came and sat beside him on the bed.  “It’s not good for you to be alone right now; you know that, don’t you?” Rimmer said softly.

“I don’t feel alone,” Lister replied, “It’s like I keep forgetting.  I keep thinking it’s still there, still with me,” He brushed the stitches on his stomach, “And then I remember and that’s when it hits me the worst.”

“Things will get better,” Rimmer said, knowing it was a useless remark even as he said it.

 “I know,” Lister said shortly, “I’ll get over it.  I got over the rest.  It’s hard to brood too much when you’re trapped in a laboratory with a lunatic.  All your energy goes on wondering how long it’s going to take before he kills you too.”

            Rimmer winced, “This one was different,” he said gently, “You carried it for longer.  You had hope for the future.  The others...they were just experiments that went wrong.  This one was actually a pregnancy.  You’re going to grieve, and it’s going to take time.  It’s to be expected.”

            Lister stared at the teddy-bear.  It was all that was left of the nursery.  The Cat had dismantled the rest of it the day before and put all the bits out of sight.  Some bit of feline intuition had made him keep the teddy bear.  It had sat on top of the coffin through the funeral this morning.  Nobody had said anything when Lister had taken it with him at the end of the service.

            “We would have been good parents,” Lister said unexpectedly, “You would have been the strict one and I would be the fun one.  Like...you’d make the kid eat all its vegetables and I’d slip it ice cream afterwards.  And we’d argue over how much AI they were allowed to play before they went and studied.  And we’d never agree on anything until it was asleep, and then we’d look at it and agree it was perfect.  That was what I wanted,” he swallowed hard.

“I wanted that too,” Rimmer told him, “And I wanted you to hold my hand when it had a cold and you were worried about its temperature.  And ask me if I could look after it while it was teething so you could go and have a nap.  Or come to me for backup when it was sixteen and wanted to take Blue Midget out joyriding.  I wanted you to need me.”  He looked away ashamed.

              “I still need you,” Lister said softly, reaching over and taking his hand, “I need you to help me get through this.  I need you to show me the light at the end of the tunnel, and give me a reason to get to it.  I need you to keep me sane.” He squeezed Rimmer’s hand tightly and smiled wearily.  Rimmer squeezed it back.

 “I love you, you know,” he said helplessly.  He spoke without thinking, letting his exhausted emotions take control of his mouth and spill out his soul.

“I know,” Lister said gently, “I think I’ve probably known it for longer than I’ve realised.” He continued hesitantly, “And I think part of what we both wanted, was for this baby to bring us together.  And if nothing else, I think maybe it’s done that.”

            Rimmer wrapped his arms around him and Lister went gratefully into the embrace.  They held each other silently for a little while.  “One day,” Rimmer whispered, “Maybe we will have all that.  Maybe.”

“Maybe,” Lister agreed quietly, “For now, I’m just glad that we’ve got each other.”


End file.
